Power line objectors

Jan 12 2010

Dear Editor, – All administrations are defined by the big decisions they make that shape the country for years to come.

This Scottish Government’s legacy could well be its approval of the Beauly-Denny line.

Future generations will be left with a giant pylon line that scars our world renowned landscapes, yet wasn’t necessary in the first place.

Beauly Denny is yesterday’s solution to tomorrow’s problem. The fact is that Scotland could meet its renewable energy targets without the Beauly-Denny line. The present system can cope with the onshore wind and hydro power that is currently in the planning system and the existing east coast route can be incrementally upgraded to meet future onshore demand. Developments in the south west highlands do not need to be connected to the proposed Beauly-Denny line.

As marine renewables become a significant power source in the north of Scotland, with offshore wind already under development and wave and tidal systems to follow, sub-sea cables will be the preferred means of meeting future demand in the south.

The Beauly Denny Landscape Group has long campaigned on these issues including a call to the Scottish Government to reopen the Planning Inquiry in the light of this and other new evidence. Despite recent precedents elsewhere for such a course of action the call has been ignored. For the thousands of objectors and supporters of this campaign this not only reinforces a sense of democratic deficit but also raises disturbing prospects for all our environments should the lack of adequate appraisal and consideration of evidence continue to prevail.

The Beauly-Denny line will be the legacy of a poor decision, based on false assumptions, and one that we will all have to live with for generations to come.

Beauly Denny Landscape Group.

John Hutchison (Chairman, John Muir Trust); John Mayhew (Director, The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland); Kate Mavor (Chief Executive, National Trust for Scotland); Chris Townsend (President , The Mountaineering Council of Scotland); Dennis Canavan (Convenor, Ramblers Scotland); Dr Rob McMorran (Coordinator, Scottish Wild Land Group).

l The Beauly-Denny group comprises several major organisations: the National Trust for Scotland, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, the John Muir Trust, Ramblers Scotland, and the Scottish Wild Land Group. Collectively we speak on landscape and outdoor recreation issues for over 300,000 people.